The Next Standing Rock

From The New Republic: "A new Canadian pipeline could be "game over" for the climate—and activists are lining up to stop it."

Even as the world continues to reel from Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, another environmental disaster is already looming. In September, construction is scheduled to begin on a massive expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, a project that will create a dramatic spike in planet-warming pollution by transporting oil extracted from Canada’s tar sands, one of the world’s dirtiest and most energy-intensive sources of crude.

The supersize pipeline, stretching along a 715-mile route from Alberta to the Pacific Ocean, will pump 890,000 barrels of oil to the coast each day—more than doubling the current carbon emissions from tar sands. In climate terms, that’s the equivalent of putting another 3.6 million cars on the road.

Just great. This time an American company getting an assist from Canada's two faced Prime Minister:

The pipeline itself is American, owned by Houston-based energy giant Kinder-Morgan, which boasts of operating a “giant toll road” for the flow of oil and natural gas. But the man paving the way for the pipeline is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has carefully cultivated a reputation among environmentalists as the climate-conscious opposite of Donald Trump.

The city of Vancouver, climate activists and indigenous tribes have all joined in on opposition. A recent political shift may also be a monkey wrench:

The pipeline was approved last fall by federal and provincial governments controlled by Trudeau’s Liberal Party. But in May, after New Democrats and Greens won a one-seat majority in British Columbia, the left-wing coalition vowed to do everything in its power to block the Trans Mountain Pipeline—including holding up necessary permits.

The arrogance and contempt for global climate/environmental disaster continues unabated.

https://newrepublic.com/article/144538/next-standing-rock-new-canadian-p...

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Lenzabi's picture

Is what the greedy buggers have decided, as they take in as much wealth as possible, just letting all the nukes loose at once would at least be the least painful way to end Humanity.

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So long, and thanks for all the fish

Meteor Man's picture

@Lenzabi
or one Big Thermonuclear Bang seem to be the path to extintion the human species is embarked on. I tried to find a word to describe our species pathology and came up empty. Sentient self extinction or species self destruction?

Here's an article on Global Collective Psychosis:

http://newsjunkiepost.com/2016/08/10/new-era-of-global-collective-psycho...

And a diary I did about a year ago on the article:

https://caucus99percent.com/content/global-collective-insanity

Unfortunately we seem to be on a steep downward spiral.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Lenzabi's picture

@Meteor Man Yup, a major mess in the future, More merciful to end it in a nuclear bang.

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Meteor Man's picture

@Lenzabi
is apparently not likely:

According to the 1980 United Nations report General and Complete Disarmament: Comprehensive Study on Nuclear Weapons: Report of the Secretary-General, it was estimated that there were a total of about 40,000 nuclear warheads in existence at that time, with a potential combined explosive yield of approximately 13,000 megatons.

Which may or may not be sufficient to accomplish extinction because:

Moreover, assuming the entire world stockpile of weapons were grouped together, it would be difficult due to the nuclear fratricide effect to ensure the individual weapons would go off all at once.

Nonetheless, many people believe that a full-scale nuclear war would result, through the nuclear winter effect, in the extinction of the human species, though not all analysts agree on the assumptions inputted into these nuclear winter models.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_holocaust

Just because the second wave of missles makes the radioactive rubble bounce, that is no guarantee of total extinction.

If it happens in my lifetime, I hope I am not one of the survivors. It would be a very bleak and nasty existence.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Lenzabi's picture

@Meteor Man Indeed, I would not wish to make it out of that, the death from Radiation, in the water, and food, and dust in the air, would be a different slow death. But maybe still faster in comparison to the water becoming toxic and filtration centers charging people for that service, food scarcity, ensuring rationing and starvation, and then air is polluted and hot that if asthma does not kill folks, the heat strokes will. Either way, the Parasite Class will have sucked up what they desire and leave us all in the lurch.

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So long, and thanks for all the fish

Meteor Man's picture

@Lenzabi
Assuming they provided accommodations for armed security guards and their family, what would stop the armed guards from eliminating useless mouths to feed that serve no useful purpose?

Plumbers, mechanics and IT geeks to keep everything running will last longer than 1%ers.

Boss: After everything I have done for you?

Armed Guard: What have you done for me lately? BAMM! Another one bites the dust.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

How on Earth (or what yet remains of it, at this point) was Trudeau supposed to have conned environmentalists as described? I could never figure out why the corrupt Liberals were down (with the NDP) as one choice in the strategic voting to get the Cons out, although I suppose the Green Party was too small...

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.